Strength or Weakness?
by Yijasha
Summary: Medusa has finally figured out a way to take over the world! What is her plan? And how will her plan affect Maka and Soul? Disclaimer: I do not own Soul Eater.
1. Chapter 1

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death Scythe. **Maka has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target.****

Chapter 1

~{Soul}~

Inside the humble walls of the DWMA, there walked a not so humble student.

Soul Eater Evans was feeling quite arrogant at that particular moment, as though he were king of the school, badass of the month, and ladies most wanted… the world never looked so bright, open, and full of possibility…

Until he ran into his partner, Maka Albarn, whose green eyes glared at him, making him assume that she was about to smack him.

"What'd I do now?" He asked nonchalantly.

Her glare intensified, "Soul, I know you've been feeling like the king of the world ever since you ate Arachne's soul and became a Death Scythe but," Maka paused, taking a breath trying not to get TOO mad at her partner, "you can't just skip out on training sessions just because you're a Death Scythe now! In fact we need to be training mor-"

"Ahh, you worry too much," Soul interrupted, focusing on the peach colored wall to his left.

"No, I worry just the right amount! Soul! We need to keep training! If we don't we won't be able to use any of your new-"

"So? We took down a witch with no problems! We can handle anything."

"Soul…" Maka growled, in a tone he was all too familiar with, "You're pushing it. Please Soul! We NEED to train!"

He sighed, he wasn't going to win, he knew that the second they started talking. _Better give up now. I'd rather not have to go through training with my shins, and skull, covered in bruises_. "Yeah, okay. FINE! I'll train with you after school, okay?"

She smiled, "Thanks Soul! We really need this!" she exclaimed before running off down the hall, her sandy blonde hair bopping up and down with each step.

Soul watched her, with a pained look on his face, until she turned a corner before uttering a faint, "Yeah right, whatever." He shook his head sadly as he turned in the opposite direction. _Practicing before school even starts? That is so uncool_ … He sighed, and thought that this really was the best choice. He knew that once Maka was determined to do something he was just a fool to try and stop her. He knew this, and yet he just couldn't help but **try** and fight her on some things.

Needless to say he never won…

Unless she was being really REALLY stupid, reckless, or a combination of any/or all those mentioned above.

Which did happen –occasionally- despite her being the top of the class and all… her problem was that she tended to be a friend first and a fighter second.

He sighed and shook his head again, causing his odd white hair to be thrown into a state of disarray. His black headband managed to stay on and keep the majority of his hair off of his face; however some of his bangs flew into his eyes causing slight discomfort. With another sigh, Soul's right hand reached up and brushed his bangs away while thinking: _Summer is so boring, why can't school just start already? _

Then again, Soul never wanted school to start. Ever.

The sole reason being that Lord Death, the creator and principal of the DWMA, decided to instigate a new… tradition – tradition being the word Lord Death had used, meanwhile Soul, as well as many other students, saw it more as a new form of torture.

Lord Death had decided that this year, on the last day of summer, he wanted the parents of the students to come join them in a "last-day-of-summer party".

Now, for the children who attended this academy, and had great relationships with their parents, this was amazing. This was the best idea Lord Death had ever had, giving these children one last chance to say goodbyes, as well as giving the parents a chance to meet the kids that their children will be spending their school year with.

However, for Soul and the majority of the other students, who did NOT have good relationships with their parents… this was just a major disaster waiting to happen.

_All the kids know this is a BAD idea… we've told Lord Death plenty of times how bad of an idea this is yet he insists that we try it. Why won't he listen to us?_

Even Soul, pride filled Soul, had gone to Lord Death and practically begged that he would cancel the event. Soul had figured that since he was a Death Scythe and all, he probably had more of an influence on Lord Death and could probably persuade him to NOT follow through.

He was sadly mistaken.

_Flashback~_

"_Soul, this is an excellent opportunity for all of my students to be with their parents one last time. I am a parent myself you know. I'm trying to make this easier on them." Death informed him._

"_What about the students who don't WANT a last moment with them? Didn't you think about them? Why not just have the kids who WANT their parents to be there invite them?" _

"_Because think about how sad and heartbroken the parents, who DIDN'T get invited, would be! They would feel like their children hate them, and don't care about them at all! That's just unacceptable. I won't play favorites. ALL students' family members will be invited and all students' family members HAVE already been invited, Soul. I can't change my mind now. It's too late."_

_Soul had groaned thinking over and over again: _This can't be happening! This can't be happening! This can't be-

"_But, if it'll make you feel better Soul, I'll tell you this." Death paused for a second his next words hesitating slightly, "This year will be a test run. If all you kids are right and lots of fighting occurs between families and students then… This year will be the only time. However Soul, I'm giving this event a chance! That means there's no stopping it this time."_

_Soul fell to the ground thinking '_Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!'_ over and over again._

"_Now that you know there's absolutely nothing you can do to change this situation… Might I suggest that you accept the fact that you are probably going to see your parents, get off my floor, and go hang with your friends?"_

_Soul did as Lord Death asked._

_End of flashback~_

There was only one problem: that was a month ago, during the middle of summer.

Summer was almost over, over the next few days all the students would be returning to the DWMA… with their parents.

Soul grimaced and leaned against the right wall of the hallway. _M-my parents… they're coming. They're coming here._

Slowly, Soul began to sit pressing his back more firmly against the stone.

_They're coming __**now**__..._

* * *

><p><strong>I'm going to apologize in advance; this story's going to have a slow start. The action probably won't start up until somewhere around chapter 6 or 7. I really want this to be perfect.<strong>

**So? How was it? Review please!**

**I really hope I kept them in character. I feel like I did. Ideas? Suggestions? **

**REVIEW! Thanks! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death Scythe. **Maka has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target.****

Chapter 2

~{Maka}~

The girl who had placed so much faith in bravery, wasn't feeling very brave at this particular moment. In fact she was becoming more and more afraid, about her partners wellbeing, with each passing second.

"Common Soul, we're gonna be late!" Maka cried out to her partner, who was still upstairs pretending to be 'getting ready'. She knew he had been postponing this for as long as possible, acting just like Kid, trying to take as much time as possible in order for everything to be 'perfect'. She knew he was just trying to prolong the impossible. He didn't want to see his parents.

_Flashback~_

_Soul was standing at the top of the stairs, to their apartment, slightly breathless. Two days to go until the parent-student party. Maka had just asked him why he was acting so distant, and why he'd been growing grumpier and grumpier as the summer was coming to a close._

"_Is it because you don't want summer to end? Having too much fun?" She asked him._

"_As if. It's been so boring around here."_

"_Then why?"_

"_Why?" Soul growled, getting angrier by the minute, "I'll tell you why, okay? Look, you know I have… issues with my parents. With my brother right?"_

"_Yeah, I know. But I mean, as much as you don't like them you should be fine with just seeing them for one night…"_

"_One night, ONE night? When I left I NEVER wanted to see them again, I still don't."_

"_But Soul…"_

"_I don't want to see them! I don't want to talk to them! I don't want to be anywhere near them! I want to have nothing to do with them." _

"_Soul, you can't get out of this. It's a mandatory event."_

_Soul had sighed, his face fell and he looked… so sad, broken even._

_Only one thought filled her mind. She really wanted to say it out loud but she managed to keep it at bay. Soul looked like he had talked enough about his family._

_She'd thought: _Soul, what did they do to you?

_End of flashback~_

"Okay, okay. Let's get this over with." she heard Soul's voice call out as he climbed down the stairs and approached her.

"Wow!" She exclaimed, "You look great!" He was wearing a suit that was practically identical to the one that the he usually wore while in the black room. Very similar, however, Maka was still shocked, the outfit just looked soooo GOOD on him.

"Yeah? Thanks." He said putting as little emotion as possible into it, "You look great too." She was wearing a dress similar to the one she wore while in the black room, however it was a dark green dress with black lacing around her shoulders and around the bottom of the dress. Embroidered leaf-like black patterns raced up, from the bottom of her dress, on all sides until they reached her waist. There, there was a long black sash that made a big bow in the back.

She worried whether or not she really looked as great as Soul claimed. Was her bow on straight? Did the green shade clash with her skin tone? Was she totally blowing this all out of proportion?

Soul sighed, "Maka, you really do look great okay? Don't worry about it."

She thought about it for a second, then smiled and nodded before exclaiming an overly enthusiastic, "Okay!"

Then they were off! She grabbed her bag with her right hand, grabbed Soul with her left and pulled him out into the night, heading straight for the DWMA.

Soul didn't put up TOO much of a fight…

Marching, to what they thought was their doom, with hope in their hearts.

Little did they know how much doom and despair they were really going to face in the near future.

* * *

><p>~{Medusa}~<p>

Most of the witches in the world were hers to command, hers to manipulate, and hers to destroy.

She held so much power in her two hands, it was quite an achievement. After her sister's death, she gathered as many witches as she could and told them of the horrible, dishonored, undeserved death her sister had suffered.

Suffering that had been forced upon her by the students at the DWMA.

Which was not exactly a lie; her sister HAD been killed by a student at the DWMA… However, the pain and suffering part may have been exaggerated… a lot.

And she certainly did deserve it.

However, to Medusa, it didn't matter how much she exaggerated. It didn't matter how far the truth was being stretched…

As long as it was based on a grain of truth it was enough, enough to gain the loyalty and trust of the majority of the witches _on the planet_.

Now there was only one more thing left: the high witch council. They were the only witches she had not been able to grasp, the only ones left (with a few exceptions)

She had to convince the high witch council to let her go ahead with her plan. She needed their support or she would lose everything. However, the problem was that the witches didn't trust her. It had taken a lot of effort to even convince them to just let her explain her plan before the high witch council. That 'effort' had been her saying that all she wanted was to 'avenge my dear sweet sister who was so wrongfully taken from me!'. She begged for them to just give her a chance to extract her revenge. They decided to listen.

She had gone into great detail as too how she was going to bring down the one, and only, obstacle that had remained undefeatable in their quest to take over the world. The high witch council had listened with open minds. Medusa spoke calmly, walked smoothly, and made hand gestures that implied that the witch was extremely gifted, as well as graceful. Her charisma enchanted them, despite their doubts, they thought she could do it. They had unanimously approved of her plan, and gave her the all clear to go ahead and give it a try.

She was ecstatic, everything was going as planned.

Needless to say, unlike Kid, she was having a really great day.

* * *

><p>~{Kid}~<p>

All he had wanted was for everything to be symmetrical, perfect, organized.

And it all had been exactly that… until Black*Star decided that he wanted to help out.

Lord Death, Kid's father, had asked Kid one measly request, one little favor and Black*Star had to go and mess everything up.

_Flashback~_

"_Could you handle the decorations for the parent-student party? Everyone's busy getting ready for the school year to start so there's really no one else I can turn to… except the students but THEY might do something inappropriate."_

"_Don't worry Dad. I've got this under control. We will have the most symmetrical decorations the world has ever seen!" Kid replied with a determined expression._

"_Alrighty then!" Kid began to leave but his father stopped him, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder, "Oh, Kid? Please try not to go overboard, or worry about it excessively in any way, okay?"_

"_Sure Dad. I promise I won't worry about it."_

_End of flashback~_

"I'm worrying about it! I'm worrying about it!" Kid whispered repeatedly, while sitting in a fetal position rocking rapidly back and forth.

"DON'T WORRY MAN! BLACK*STAR IS TOTALLY GOING TO FIX THIS! I AM A GOD AFTERALL! HAHAHAHA!" Black*Star shouted.

If anything, the boy who dreamed of surpassing God did surpass him when it came to how loud he could yell.

As Black*Star continued to laugh too loudly Liz and Patty approached their meister uttering words of encouragement:

"Kid, it'll be okay!" –Liz

"Yeah Kid! He only ripped one of the curtains… and broke a statue. But still! That's not too bad if ya think about it!" –Patty

"One of the curtains? ONE of the CURTIANS!" Kid asked, his voice getting louder, "Those were the only curtains we have at the DWMA that are large enough to fit a window that size! And WORSE one of the curtains doesn't even match any of the other ones! What am I going to do now? I don't have the time to go around and make each and every curtain have the same exact appearance! Oh! Father will be so disappointed with me! I'm no good as a grim reaper I can't even put up party decorations without failing miserably!"

"Aw, common Kid! It's not your fault!"-Liz

"Yeah Kid! It's not your fault it's Black*Star's fault!"-Patty

"B-Black*Star?" Kid immediately began to calm down, which was the good news, however… "You're right Patty." Kids voice was taking a dangerous tone to it. "It _is _Black*Star's fault now isn't it?" he asked as he stood up and faced Black*Star with a scowl on his face.

"Now Kid…" Tsubaki began, "Let's not fight! It might cause even MORE damage!"

Kid sighed, "You're right Tsubaki," she sighed in relief, "That's why we're going to take this fight _outside_."

* * *

><p><strong>CLIFFHANGER! O_o<strong>

**Please Review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death Scythe. **Maka has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target.****

Chapter 3

~ {Tsubaki} ~

She was the most dangerous weapon at the academy, yet she was the one who disapproved of violence the most. She didn't want her friends to fight but she was going to have to let them.

"Wait! No! Kid, please!" She begged Kid as he walked outside.

"Black*Star!" She yelled.

"What Tsubaki?"

"Please don't fight Kid! We're all friends and we need to clean up this mess before the party starts…"

"Ah, I can beat him up and get that mess cleaned up in no time! HAHAHAHA!" He laughed again.

"Black*Star…"

"Tsubaki, I need you to turn into a weapon now. The fun's about to start." He grinned darkly as he locked his eyes on Kid and his two weapons.

She gave up, there was no way she was going to ignore her meister. "Right!" She transformed into a chain scythe.

"You are disgusting! I can't believe you would openly destroy perfect symmetry like that!" Kid began to shout, "Perfect symmetry that _I _had been working on and perfecting for an entire WEEK! I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!"

Students and parents started to gather watching the growing spectacle with wary eyes.

Tsubaki sighed things were about to get interesting.

* * *

><p>~ {Medusa} ~<p>

_Things are about to get interesting_, she thought.

The time had come, it was exactly 8:00pm on the specified date. _She has to be coming, she wouldn't dare refuse my letter and reject me without even giving me a chance…_

_Would she? _She began to doubt it... _What if-_

_Of course not!_ Medusa reassured herself thinking. _Silly me, you know her as well as you know the back of your hand. Of course she's coming. She's the whole reason the saying "Curiosity killed the cat" even exists in the first pla-_

There she was, the girl Medusa had been waiting for.

Once the girl saw Medusa she turned and walked towards her, hesitating with every step. Walking like a predator that was uncertain on whether or not she was being hunted by an even more dangerous predator. She locked her eyes into hers; her deep green iris' that looked like they were being cut in half by a black toothpick. Except it wasn't a black toothpick, no, it was her pupil.

_I had forgotten how unsettling those things were, her eyes they're so... I don't even know the appropriate word for it..._

They both sat there for a long while, eyes probing one another's, waiting for either an attack or for the conversation to begin.

"Panthera! It's good to see you!" Medusa greeted with a tone that sounded nostalgic.

"I wish I could say the same." Panthera stated without emotion, turning her head abruptly away from Medusa's probing gaze causing her short spiky orange hair ruffle at the swift movement.

"I do apologize for calling you here so abruptly but… there was something I simply HAD to tell you."

"Right," Panthera responded with sarcasm, "Let's just get this over with. Tell me what it is so I can leave!"

"Impatience as ever I see…" Medusa whispered acting as though Panthera's last statement had hurt her feelings.

The red head growled.

"It's just that-" Medusa began to cry (fake tears of course), she knew she had to sell her despair so she just sat there and cried for a few minutes.

Once she stopped Panthera asked, "Are you done now?"

"Panthera!" Medusa exclaimed in a hoarse voice, eyes still red, "I'm crying because Arachne is dead! I know how much she meant to you! I just- I just can't seem to talk about it withou-" Panthera cut her off.

"What do you mean Arachne is dead?"

"She was slain by a DWMA student!"

There was a moment where everything in the universe seamed to stop, time was frozen.

Silence…

"YOU WITCH! HOW DARE YOU TELL ME SUCH AN AWFUL LIE?" Panthera screamed grabbing Medusa by her clothes and hauling her above her face.

"I'm not lying to you," Medusa stated calmly as though her life was not about to end, "Maka Albarn killed Arachne and fed her soul to her weapon," she stated with more fake tears falling down her cheeks. "Think Panthera I wouldn't lie to about this. I know you'd kill me if I was lying. This is the truth. Arachne stopped contacting you right? She's dead."

The furious girl let go of Medusa abruptly and said with a disgust-filled tone, "Yeah, I guess you're right. I didn't want to believe it when she sent that distress call, or when she didn't respond to any messages I sent her…" The girls face was unreadable as she stared out into the distance.

"Maka Albarn huh?" she asked after a long moment.

"Now Panthera, you can't go after that girl. She can see through our soul protect, she'd stop you before you got the chance to get your revenge on that girl," Medusa stated.

"Then what do I do?" Panthera asked her tone underlined with one of desperation.

"I know _exactly _what you need to do."

This was it. Her plan was finally getting in motion.

On the inside she was beaming, she had Panthera right where she wanted her.

* * *

><p>~ {Soul} ~<p>

He and Maka got to the party early.

_Figures, after everything; my procrastination, and Maka's bickering about how we were going to be late, we ended up being early._

_That's so uncool._

"Hey! I wonder what's going on over there!" Maka pointed at a crowd that was gathered around the entrance.

"Uh-"

"Common Soul! Let's go check it out!" Maka yelled as she grabbed Soul's hand and began to tug him towards the crowd. As they got closer they began to hear two distinct voices taunting each other… two distinct voices that Soul knew very well.

Soul grabbed Maka's wrist and forced his way through the crowd dragging Maka behind him. Shoving the last pedestrian aside he finally could see what was going on. He had not been mistaken. Two of his good friends were fighting each other.

Black*Star and Death the Kid had abandoned their weapons by this point, and were now fighting with their fists. It was... an interesting sight. He felt the need to do something but he couldn't think of anything. He felt someone prying at his fingers, the same fingers that had been holding... MAKA! She freed her wrist and then ran in between the two angry teenage males holding her arms out as though she were going to shove them apart.

_Which is completely ridiculous_, He thought, _they're both so much stronger than her… she'll be crushed._

"Maka! Don't-"

"Okay you two! Back off!" Maka screamed, her voice combined with her death glare managed to stop them both in their tracks.

_Dammit Maka! You're so reckless, one of these days you're going to do something reckless and make a decision that's going to screw us over big time._

"So, do you know them?" asked a familiar voice.

Soul slowly turned around to see who had spoken to him. His eyes widened with shock, and then narrowed in anger.

There stood his older brother.

"Wes?" he asked angrily, "What're you doing here?"

Soul's night just got worse.

* * *

><p>~ {Maka} ~<p>

Kid was angry. That much was obvious to her. Black*Star must have done something to piss him off. She felt that it was up to her to stop their quarrel and help the party to continue with as little fighting as possible.

"Kid? What did Black*Star do to make you so mad?" she asked

"You know how my father put me in charge of decorating?" she nodded, "Well, Black*Star ripped one of the curtains and now it doesn't match up with the rest of them! It's completely unsymmetrical! He's ruined me!"

"Why don't you just take them down if it matters so much?"

"Because…" Kid trailed off, just staring at her for a long moment, "Take them down?" he asked unsure.

"Yeah, I'm sure everything will look just as good with them down."

Silence.

"MAKA YOU'RE A GENIOUS!" Kid yelled, before running back into the building.

"HEY MAN! YOU SHOULD LET BLACK*STAR HELP YOU OUT WITH THAT!" Black*Star yelled while running after him.

"NO! I DON'T WANT YOUR-"

There was a crash and a lot of ripping sounds that began to emanate from the building followed by more yelling.

That was when Lord Death decided to appear shouting, "Alright everyone! Let's start this party!"

The guests dispersed, and the party started.

* * *

><p><strong>I promise the adventure'll start soon. I lied in chapter 1 actions going to start up in chapter 5 or 6.<strong>

**I'm so sorry about the OC. But know she's essential, I won't rely on her too much, and I wouldn't have put her in if I didn't need her.**

**BUT KNOW: The** OC, she's going to be dead in a chapter or two so don't worry about her.****

**Review please! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death Scythe. **Maka has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target.****

Chapter 4

~ {Soul} ~

_This is just GREAT! Why is Wes here? _He was screaming angrily on the inside.

However, on the outside, Soul was calm, and cool, acting as though Wes' appearance was no big deal.

"So Wes, why are you here?" he asked putting in a ton of effort to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Which, in the end, was a wasted effort; his tone was too harsh, and his body language implied that he didn't want to be around him.

"Well, Mom and Dad were busy, and it felt like I hadn't seen you in ages so I decided to come and see how you were doing," he paused for a second, "so, how ARE you doing?"

"Great, those two idiots you saw fighting earlier are my best friends and a part of my team-" he was cut off.

"What about the girl?"

"Huh? Maka? She's my partner..." he turned to look at his brother trying to understand why he had asked about her, "Why?"

"Is she-"

"Soul!" Maka shouted running back to him, "The party's starting! Now we can…" she noticed Wes standing next to him, "Oh! I'm sorry I didn't realize I was interrupting something!"

Wes chuckled, "It's alright. So you're Maka, huh?"

"Yes I am."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you. I heard you made my little brother into a Death Scythe… Is that true?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Is that hard to do? A few people that I spoke to made it sound like a big deal…"

"It is hard to do! Well, the 99 souls aren't that hard but it's that one witch soul that creates a problem. Killing a witch is tough."

"Wow!" Wes smiled at her, then repositioned so that he could look at both of them, "Congratulations to both of you for accomplishing something so difficult!" He turned back to Maka, "Especially to you," he grabbed her hand, pulled it up and placed a kiss on it.

Soul couldn't take it anymore. He turned and left, trying to put as much distance as possible between him and Wes.

"Soul, wait!" Maka yelled before chasing after him.

She caught up quickly, "Soul why'd you leave so suddenly?"

Soul growled, "He was pissing me off,"

"Soul," She asked her tone softer, her hand grabbed his, "he's your brother. I think you should face him and try to get over this rift."

"No, I'm not doing that,"

"Idiot! You can't go hating your family for the rest of your life!" their voices began to get louder.

"Why not? You hate your Dad!"

"I don't hate him all the time, only when he's flirting with women, or trying to act like nothing's happened between him and mother!"

"How about you fix your problems with your family and THEN you can try to lecture me into fixing mine!"

"Soul!" She yelled angrily, "I'm trying to help you!"

"I don't need your help! Leave me alone!" He yelled back.

She huffed, roughly let go of his hand, violently kicked him in the shin before turning and stomping off in her father's direction.

He watched her go.

* * *

><p>~ {Blair} ~<p>

Blair was lonely. Maka and Soul had left to go to a party that she had not been invited to. So she, in her moment of weakness, decided to try to rid her feelings of loneliness by shopping.

She was walking down town; she had been searching for a particular shop for about an hour. A shop called _The Lioness_. It was a new shop in town that had been all her cat friends would talk about during the last few days, and during that time she'd been too busy to check it out… until now.

_There it is! Finally! _She thought, changing course. _I didn't think it would take me THAT long to find this place!_

She walked into the store, and saw a sight that surprised her. The walls were stained, the floors were filthy, and there wasn't a shelf in sight.

This place was a dump.

"Wh-what?" Blair asked the darkness.

_Am I in the right place? This cannot be it!_

"Are you Blair?" a voice called out.

"Y-yes… Who's there?"

A woman emerged from the back of the so called 'store'. She approached Blair, her stride smooth, and confident. She stopped when she was just a few steps away from the young magical cat. Her dark green eyes seemed to glow in the dim light.

"Hello Blair. I require your assistance."

Blair's eyes seemed to glaze over as she asked, "What do you want me to do?"

* * *

><p>~ {Wes} ~<p>

Wes watched the fight between his brother and Maka, watching still as they parted.

His brother obviously hadn't been too happy to see him today, after seeing Soul's reaction he'd thought that maybe it would be better if he hadn't come at all.

_Focus Wes! Remember the reason you came here._ As he remembered his resolve hardened, he _was_ going to do this.

Wes walked over to his brother and asked, "What happened between you and Maka?"

Soul sighed, "She was butting in, I told her to butt out and she got angry. End of story."

There was a moment of silence. Wes struggled with what he was going to say, he'd rehearsed it over and over but now…

All of those words had suddenly vanished from his mind.

Wes gritted his teeth. _Just tell him, what you feel and what we felt about Soul's coming here…_

The words flowed into his mind and suddenly he knew exactly what he needed to say.

It was definitely better than before.

"Soul, I came here to apologize." Soul looked up at him in shock, "Mom and Dad wanted to come and apologize themselves, but I insisted to them that I should go alone. I told them that you would be less willing to listen to us if they were around. I'm sorry that we as a family didn't support you as much as we should have."

"Dammit Wes! What are you trying to pull?" Soul asked angrily.

"I'm not trying to pull anything! Look Soul! After you left and never contacted us we realized that you hadn't just left us. You had deserted us. You didn't want anything to do with us. That hurt, hurt pretty bad. We wondered what could have possibly caused this and we realized that you were treated like 2nd best."

"You were always so wrapped up in your music that you barely took any time to recognize mine." Soul inserted, tone devoid of emotion. "Mom and Dad were always encouraging you to keep going… I just wanted to be encouraged like you. So I took up piano and got really good at it. I was always waiting for them to tell me how proud of me they were and how I needed to keep practicing but…" Soul trailed off

"It just got to the point where they didn't feel like starting the whole process over again. Basically, repeating themselves. They never said anything like that to you, and you thought it was because you weren't good enough for them." Wes paused, "Right?"

"Y-yeah."

"That wasn't true. They never realized they treated us different, and once they did they were horribly sorry. They tried sending you letters but you'd send them back, we tried calling but you never answered. We had just wanted… Just wanted…" Wes paused. He wasn't exactly sure what they'd wanted. It wasn't that they wanted Soul's forgiveness. No, it was something else…

Suddenly it hit him. He knew exactly what they had wanted, "We just wanted you to know that we were sorry." Wes waited for Soul to say something, anything, but he said nothing at all. "We don't expect forgiveness right away. We just wanted you to know so that maybe someday, we could be forgiven and then we could try to fix things between us." He waited again, but Soul, again, said nothing. "I'll go now."

Wes walked far away before looking back at his brother, who was like a stone.

He hadn't moved an inch.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright!<strong>

**This story's about to officially LAUNCH into action mode!**

**Mwahahahahaha!**

**I've been dying to reach this part! Now I need to perfect the art of writing fighting scenes!**

**Review please.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death Scythe. **Maka has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target.****

Chapter 5

~ {Maka} ~

Besides that initial fight, the party went on with no more problems.

She was mad at Soul for the rest of that night. She knew Soul was right when he said, fix your family problems first and THEN fix mine. It was just that he had been so _angry_, she had felt a desperate need to try to help out.

He had been right. But he shouldn't have brought up her father, when her father had been close enough the entire time to hear every word they exchanged. That was just mean!

Other than that little fight, she had a great time. She met Tsubaki's parents, while they chatted Maka realized something:

She had never realized before how the majority of her teammates had parent issues.

She had forgotten that Liz and Patty lived on the streets prior to becoming Kids weapons,

She had forgotten that Black*Star was the last of the Star clan,

Kids father was too busy to be with his son,

Wes disappeared after talking with Soul,

And her mother was still traveling.

So the only parents that got to chat with other parents were Tsubaki's and her father.

In a way that was a good thing. They basically got to hang with each other like they normally did, without the pressure of 'your mom/dad is watching everything you do'.

So, all in all, they had a really fun time.

* * *

><p>~ {Soul} ~<p>

It had been a few days since his talk with Wes.

He still couldn't stop thinking about it. His brother Wes had come and apologized to him, he couldn't believe it.

He had to have been dreaming.

Yet everyone he had asked all said the same thing; Wes really had been there, and that he, Soul, had talked to Wes for a decent amount of time.

So he hadn't been dreaming, greeeaat.

Currently it was a Saturday, he and Maka had not been assigned any missions, he was sitting down, watching T.V. (in a desperate attempt to stop thinking about everything his brother had said to him).

Maka, who was wearing her typical boots, skirt, and white dress-shirt ensemble, was on his left side reading a book, and was in the middle of turning the page, when Blair walked in and sat on Soul's left side.

"Maaakaaa!" She whined.

_Oh boy, _Soul thought, _here she goes again._

Since there was nothing good on on T.V. Soul decided to listen in.

"What is it Blair?" Maka asked after a moment, closing her book and turning to face Blair.

"I found the _cutest_ store a few days ago! I figured since today is Saturday, you wouldn't be TOO busy to join me would you? Please, oh please, oh please, oh PLEASE?" She begged.

"Ahh… I'd rather not Blair. You know we don't share the same opinion on clothing." She stated.

Soul began to laugh on the inside, _oh this is just perfect, _He thought _Blair's going to guilt Maka into going to one of THOSE stores with her. Hahahaha!_

He wanted to see her mortified face so badly…

"Soul, you'd come with us right?" Blair asked smiling hopefully.

"Uh," he then thought of everything he _might_ see if he actually went with them, and knew exactly what his condition would be at the end of the day…

Bruised head and shins, nose bleeding like a fountain… totally uncool.

"Blair, I'd rather not." He responded carefully.

"Nonsense! You're both coming with me right now! Pumpkin, pumpkin-"

"BLAIR!" Maka shouted.

"YOU BETER NOT BE DOING WHAT I THINK YOU'RE DO-" Soul shouted, but it was too late.

"PUMPKIN!" Blair shouted. As an orange smoke appeared around them, Souls vision went dark.

* * *

><p>~ {Medusa} ~<p>

Everything was in position, ready for action.

Medusa had implanted some of her snakes into the security system in the DWMA, as much as Death City as possible, and Panthera's fake store.

The DWMA was infected so she could keep an eye on things, forewarn her fellow witches of approaching attacks, in order to gain even more trust and loyalty.

Death City was infected so she could watch and gain information that might prove useful later.

Panthera's fake shop was infected so she could keep an eye on things as the first stage of her master plan began. She had told Panthera that she'd keep an eye on things and would not hesitate to send in Free ('The Man With The Demon Eye') if things were to take a turn for the worst. She had told the orange haired witch that she would be watching the whole time.

It was both a threat and a promise.

If everything went as planned, one major threat would be eliminated, not too long from now…

Forever.

Medusa couldn't help but smile at the thought.

* * *

><p>~ {Maka} ~<p>

All had been dark, for Maka, for a long time. She finally began to wake up, her eyes opening slowly, hesitantly, a bright light was on above her. She shut her eyes quickly for a short while before forcefully opening them again, making them adjust to the light.

Blair was sitting –cross legged- on a filthy looking table, not too far from her, on her right side, just staring.

"S-Soul?" Maka asked quietly looking around for him as she slowly got up from her previous laying position on the floor. "Soul! Where are you? Are you okay?" Maka asked, more fervently as she turned to look behind her. There he was! "Soul!" She shouted before she stood up and ran to him.

Where she had been lying on the floor, Soul was slouched up against the left wall, bound in chains.

Soul began to stir, he moaned as his eyes opened a little before closing immediately. Just like Maka he then proceeded to make his eyes adjust to the brightness of the room.

"Maka?" He asked slowly, "Where are we?" He questioned as he raised his left hand towards her face, only to stop and stare at the chains now binding him to the wall behind him. "What the-" he stopped and looked at his legs, which were chained as well, "What the hell?" he growled, "Who did this!" he asked getting angrier and angrier with each question.

"I don't know Soul! But I promise I'm going to get us out of here!" Maka turned to Blair, "Blair, come here! I need your help! We need to free Soul!" she shouted as she turned back to Soul and proceeded to mess around with his chains in a feeble attempt to free him.

After a few moments Maka noticed that Blair had not moved from her spot on the table.

"Blair!" Maka yelled angrily, "Come help me NOW!"

Blair did not move, instead she said as though in a trance, "Master would not approve of me freeing him right after I finished tying him up."

Maka froze, _Blair did this? Master? _Maka gasped _Is Blair being controlled by someone? But that's insane! Who could take over the mind of a magical talking cat?_ It was then that she felt another soul appear…

A powerful witch's soul

"Maka Albarn isn't it?" a voice called out.

"Who's there?" Maka called out glaring in the general direction the soul was emanating from.

A young woman, about as tall as Maka, walked into the light. Her eyes, which were a much darker green than Maka's, were locked on her form watching her every move like a starving carnivore to their prey.

The girl smiled, without taking her eyes off her, she turned her head towards Blair and said, "Thank you Blair. You did a good job. Now Blair, what I want you to do now is go home and forget all about everything that's just happened 'kay?" Before laughing and uttering a faint, "I have you now."

"Yes, thank you master," Blair replied, getting off of the table and bowing to the orange haired girl, before exiting out the door.

"Who are you?" Maka demanded fiercely.

"I am Panthera," she replied icily.

"And you can control cats?" Maka asked, trying to confirm her suspicions.

"My magic lies in the bigger cats… Like lion, and tigers…"

"Oh my!" Soul exclaimed sarcastically.

"However, if I exert myself I can control smaller cats like your friend." Panthera smiled, "I've been waiting for this Maka."

Maka gulped at the sudden tone change, Panthera went from informative to dangerous in all of two seconds. "Waiting for what exactly?"

"I've been waiting for…" she paused for a moment grinning wickedly, "the chance to kill you."

"What makes you think you can?" Maka challenged.

"You have no weapon to fight me with, he's currently a little too tied up at the moment to help you…"

Maka gulped, she was right, this Panthera had her trapped. There was no way she was going to leave Soul, and there was no way she was going to survive without a weapon.

_I might actually die here! I have no chance of survival without Soul!_ Maka thought. _But I have to try! I have to try to get us out of here alive!_

"W-why do you want to kill me?" Maka asked trying to fight off the panic that was building in her chest.

"You will suffer for killing Arachne!" the witch growled, "She was one of my closest friends, she was the sister I never had and YOU KILLED HER!" she screamed in agony, "I'LL MAKE YOU PAY!" She turned abruptly and locked her eyes on Soul, "And YOU! You will pay more because, not only did you kill her with your blade, you ate her soul! YOU ATE HER SOUL!" she screeched before, she suddenly, started to laugh like a madman (or in this case: a madwoman), "You will suffer more than your meister! I'll make you watch as I kill her, and then I'll use you as my living scratching post!"

She turned and re-locked her eyes on Maka, she placed her body into a fighting stance and exclaimed, "Maka Albarn! Prepare to die!"

* * *

><p><strong>Yet ANOTHER cliff hanger! And I'm sorry but...<strong>

***takes a deep breath***

******I prob**ably wont update for the next two days, I'm going to be busy with my best friend and my mother during that time. But I promise I'll finish the next chapter as soon as possible.****

**Anywho,**

**Thank you all so much for the reviews! They bring me a lot of joy!**

**P.S. If you're liking this story tell me!**

**P.S.S Review!**

**P.S.S.S Thanks! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target.**

* * *

><p>Chapter 6<p>

~ {Panthera} ~

She couldn't help herself; she knew that all this yelling and screaming like a child was embarrassing, unprofessional, and childish. Yet she couldn't stop the anger that was overflowing, demanding action.

_Flashback~_

_Years ago, when Panthera was a still small, she was walking in the outskirts of death city, with no destination in mind. No idea where to go now that her parents were dead…_

_Murdered by their only child._

_It had been an accident; she didn't mean to kill them. She wasn't aware of what she was doing until it was too late._

_Tears formed in her eyes, as she remembered their screams, as she remembered watching the life in their eyes slip away…_

_She had enjoyed it._

NO! No I didn't!_ she thought,_ I'm not like that! I didn't like it! I'm not a-

_She stopped, both in mid-stride and mid-thought when she saw a tall, dark haired woman, with violet eyes._

_They stared at each other for a moment._

"_What is your name child?" the stranger asked the young girl._

"_Cathy…" she replied in a heartbroken voice._

"_Panthera," the woman whispered softly, "Will be the name you will go by during your new life as a witch."_

"_Wait. I'm- I'm a WITCH?" the newly renamed girl asked in a tone filled with horror._

"_Yes my dear," she whispered affectionetly, as she approached the girl and placed a hand on her shoulder, "you are indeed a witch. I promise I will teach you everything there is to know about what you are, for you see…" She paused and looked the girl in the eye, "I am like you, I am a witch as well. You may call me Arachne."_

_Cathy could SWEAR that, even if only for a second, she had seen WEBS in the woman eyes…_

"_I can help you Panthera, but only if you decide to let me…" She hissed before she turned, and began to walk away, "If you wish to learn you will come with me." Arachne called over her shoulder to the unmoving girl._

_Cathy stood staring at the retreating figure for a short moment. _I have nothing to go back to _she thought before racing to catch up with Arachne._

_She would spend many years of her life with her, as her apprentice, her warrior, her friend… until the day she died._

_End of Flashback~_

She was just so mad, so heart broken. Arachne had saved her life, yet she couldn't save hers.

She would make up for it, though! She would kill Arachne's killer. She would have her revenge tonight.

She would make them all suffer, suffer to the point where they'll wish they had never harmed a hair on Arachne's head!

She turned and re-locked her eyes on Maka, she placed her body into a fighting stance and exclaimed, "Maka Albarn! Prepare to die!"

* * *

><p>~ {Soul} ~<p>

He couldn't believe this was happening.

Maka was going to fight this- this-… uncool, psychopath witch. WITHOUT HIM! Without a weapon! She was insane! There was no way Maka could ever pull through! No way Maka could ever win without something to fight back with!

Yet, she wasn't running out of here. She was staying, she was going to fight for him.

_Idiot! This is SO uncool Maka! _His mind was screaming.

"Maka you can't fight her!" he screetched.

"Yes I can! I have to try, Soul!"

"No Maka! You can't!"

"Soul, stop YELLING AT ME, I NEED TO CONCENTRATE!" she yelled frantically.

Soul shut up.

They both got into fighting positions.

Panthera was hunching slightly, arms bent, with her fingers, of each hand, curling around two, very sharp looking, blades, she was grinning wickedly…

_She looks like a cat._

Maka was standing tall, balancing on her toes, ready to jump in any direction in a moment's notice.

It was a stance he was all too familiar with.

_I've seen her in this position all the time, yet she looks different now. She looks… she looks like…_

_A mouse._

Soul prayed to death that this battle would be just like those cartoons he'd grown up watching, where the mouse outsmarted the cat…

He prayed, and begged that this would be just like it.

Even though he knew that wasn't the case.

* * *

><p>~ {Medusa} ~<p>

Panthera made the first move, she pounced.

Medusa had been expecting this, however, what she hadn't expected was just how _fast_ the witch was…

Maka managed to jump to her left, however, she was not fast enough, her sweater vest was sliced from her left shoulder down to her right hip.

Medusa smiled. This really was going to be too easy! Maka's physical skills were nowhere near Panthera's level.

She could have been killed in that first move, but no. Panthera was a cat-witch, and she wanted to toy with her prey… that much was obvious.

She was going to play cat and mouse with this girl, and slice her to bits _slowly_.

She laughed while she thought, _I really picked the perfect witch for this job, didn't I?_

* * *

><p>~ {Maka} ~<p>

_Damn she's fast!_ Maka thought while dodging to the right. A knife had been heading for her throat, she managed to avoid the fatal contact…

But it still got her shoulder.

She gritted her teeth as she tried to fight off the pain. Panthera was coming at her again, she had to MOVE! She jumped back avoiding yet another, what would have been fatal, attack to her chest…

But it still got her right calve.

She was slowly being torn apart.

Maka took a few steps back and gasped, she was in a worse condition than she had hoped to be in. Her calve had been cut deeply, and her shoulder was burning, and bleeding heavily.

Panthera came at her again.

This time she didn't have any time at all to defend herself, or avoid the blow. The witch grabbed her by her good shoulder with her right hand, dug her nails in painfully deep, and slashed Maka's torso with her left hand's blade.

Like an explosion, blood gushed out of the fresh wound, splattering all over Maka's clothes and the witches face. Pain filled her mind, oh, there was so much pain that flooded all of Maka's thoughts, until it came to the point where she simply couldn't think anymore.

She heard Soul scream her name, but she didn't register it. She couldn't focus on anything except the pain that was making her weak, unable to continue to function.

Panthera tossed Maka into the right wall. Even more pain flooded into her mind as her body hit the cement. She had hit the wall with such a strength, it wasn't a surprise that her vision was failing, her body was numbing…

The world went dark.

Amongst the pain, she heard a voice in the distance crying her name.

* * *

><p>~ {Soul} ~<p>

Soul couldn't stop screaming her name, he couldn't stop calling out to her. _Maka please be okay! She has to be! She can't die on me! She has to be alri-_

"Aww, is that it? I thought my little mouse would be able to take more than that!" Panthera taunted as she made her way towards the broken, bleeding girl. She pressed a foot into Maka's head trying to see if she was still alive.

"Mouse, you can't just fall unconscious during our fight! That's rude!"

"STOP IT! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Soul screamed struggling against his chains, trying, desperately, to reach his master. "MAKA!" He yelled, "Maka! Please be alright! Maka! Dammit you idiot! Answer me!"

The girl moved her head, just a little.

"Ah, it seems my little mouse is waking up now." She laughed, eyes bright, happy her little game hadn't ended _just _yet.

"Maka!" he screamed again, "Maka! Are you alright?"

The girl stood up shakily and turned to face her opponent.

"Little mouse, I'm so very glad you decided to get up and great your demise with honor!" she pulled back her left arm, which still had its blade, "Any last words?"

The girl, who wore a blank expression, said nothing.

_Something's wrong with Maka. Her eyes, there's something wrong with them, they look... vacant._

"No? Well then," she shoved the blade towards Maka, putting as much speed and strength into the thrust, as possible, "say goodbye!"

The knife was sliced in half.

"What the hell?" He asked incredulously.

* * *

><p>~ {Medusa} ~<p>

"What the hell?"

* * *

><p>~ {Panthera} ~<p>

"What the-" she never got to finish.

The blade, that had snapped the knife in half, was protruding from Maka's right arm and had just been thrust deep into Panthera's torso.

Maka yanked out the blade.

Panthera fell dead at her feet.

"Goodbye."

* * *

><p><strong>Well! That was my first time writing a fight sequence. <strong>

**So? Did I do a good job? Bad? I'd love it if you all could give me a few pointers/helpful tips. I plan on having many more fighting sequences in the future. Thank you!**

**In case you didn't understand: Maka has dormant weapon blood, it only comes out when threatened. (Just an FYI if you never saw that last episode of the Anime)**

**Review please! :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big has dormant weapon blood that only comes out when threatened.**

Chapter 7:

~ {Soul} ~

"Maka?" he asked hesitantly.

The weapon/meister girl just stared at him blankly, for a long moment, before she began to limp over to her Scythe.

Soul watched as she winced every time she placed pressure on her injured calves, wishing he could help her _somehow_…

But he couldn't, he was bound to the wall behind him.

_Oh Maka! DAMMIT! Why did this have to happen to us?_

After a few agonizing minutes she finally reached him. She moved as close to him as she could get and then proceeded to hack apart the chains, which were trapping him, with her blade.

She nicked Soul a few times but he really couldn't care less.

Once he was free, her blade vanished, and she collapsed onto his lap. Frantic, Soul pulled her up into more of a sitting position, and proceeded to check her pulse and vital signs.

"Soul…" she whispered as she opened her eyes, slightly, she tried to look at him, by moving her head towards him, but she immediately stopped and gasped at the pain that was radiating from her neck.

_She seems to have woken up…_

"Maka don't worry, you're going to be fine. I'm going to call for help, alright?"

She nodded her head once, breathing heavily, before she became limp once more.

Soul moved her off of his lap and laid her on the floor. Then he ran around the store looking for anything he could use to call for help. Near the back of the run down building, he came across a mirror shard.

_Perfect! I can use this to call Lord Death! _He thought enthusiastically before dialing the number.

"Hello, hello! Was up?" Lord Death greeted happily.

"I need help immediately! Maka's been severely injured, and need a doc NOW!"

"Oh, my! That sounds serious. I'll get someone over there right away… Where are you at? What happened..."

* * *

><p>~ {Medusa} ~<p>

She watched as the ambulance picked up Maka and Soul before carrying them away to… wherever they were going she didn't know, _yet._

However, right now she really didn't care.

She was in shock.

She just couldn't believe it.

Medusa hadn't moved at all. Even her eyes were still staring at the same place on the screen.

This little ability of her ruined her plans, ALL OF THEM! She was ruined! Ruined! Ruined…

_Hmmm…_

The more she thought about the girls newfound powers, the more she began to think that maybe this wasn't the end of her. She could use this little gift of hers as an _advantage,_ couldn't she? Of course she could! She was Medusa after all. Someone that was very well known for being resourceful…

But how in the world could she _ever _use this as an advantage? What the hell was she supposed to come up with that would end up making this work in her favor? How?

She replayed the video, watching Maka and her weapon more closely. She watched the video again… again… and again before an idea finally struck her. _Oh, hmmm…_

She thought about it for a little longer before deciding that her new idea would, in fact, work.

_Ahhhh…_ She began to laugh._ I can still go ahead with my plan. I'll just have to make a few… __**adjustments**_. She was laughing more manically, now.

This new plan of hers would work; all she had to do now was wait…

Wait, watch, and prepare.

* * *

><p>~ {Patty} ~<p>

Patty was sitting in the living room of the Gallows Mansion, playing with her, custom, plastic farm play set, when the phone rang.

Kid and big sis Liz were arguing about 'credit cards' and 'basic needs'… something like that. She was having too much fun to really pay attention to whatever it was they were yelling about.

_Ring…_

Patty was too busy playing with her favorite plastic penguin which was riding her favorite plastic giraffe towards her plastic farmhouse. Kid had yelled at her about that:

'Penguins and giraffes DON'T belong on a farm," he had told her.

'But it's _my_ farm! And I want a giraffe and a penguin on it!' she had yelled at him, glaring at him with a look that told him she was going to cause some serious headaches if he didn't give her what she wanted.

Eventually, after she had moved everything on the right side of the Mansion to the left, he gave in.

_Haha! Kid was so funny that day! _She thought smiling proudly, _Maybe I should do it again…_

_Ring…_

"Go, go, go!" she whispered between laughs as she made the plastic pieced fly through the air, racing against imaginary opponents, "Yay!" she cheered as her toys crossed the imaginary finish line, and 'won' first place. She clapped her hands with joy.

_RING…_

"Good Giraffe!" she laughed again happily.

_RING!_

Finally, Patty could no longer stand it. She stood up, approached the nearest phone and answered, "Hullo? This is Patty and it damn well better be important! I was playing with my farmhouse…"

It was Black*Star, "Of _course_ it's important Patty! You're on the phone with the most important person on the planet!"

She thought about hanging up…

"Give me that!" she heard a faint voice order. There were sounds of shuffling and angry words, "Black*Star you KNOW why we called them in the first place! This is serious!" Tsubaki exclaimed before taking the phone from the future 'God'.

"Sorry about that Patty!" Tsubaki apologized before continuing frantically, "Maka's been hurt, badly!"

"Oh no!" Patty cried as the yelling in the kitchen stopped, "Who hurt her and where can I find them?"

"She's already dead. Maka and Soul managed to kill her," Patty pouted upon hearing this. She wasn't going to get the chance to take out revenge…

"Patty?" a voice called out from behind her, she turned and looked at Kid's worried expression, "What happened?"

"Maka got hurt."

"Will she be alright?"

Patty turned back to the phone and asked, "Tsubaki, will Maka be alright?"

"That's why I'm calling. We're not sure she will be."

* * *

><p>~ {Soul} ~<p>

_Maka you better not die on me._

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, so I've gone over like a dozen situations for this chapter… That's a reason why it has taken me so long to make up my mind and update. If it wasn't for my little sister, who's been bugging me about it constantly, I would still be putting it off.**

****The other reason is I've been really into KiMa lately therefore harder to get my inspiration… But don't worry! This is TOTALLY going to stay a SoMa and I am totally going to keep publishing chapters! I'm not letting this die on me! I promise.****

**Fact: This is my shortest chapter yet. Sorry, I hate short chapters but I felt like it was more **_**dramatic **_**and**_** emotional**_** this way. I'll try to make the next one longer to compensate.**

**Random Fact because I'm tired: I had breakfast for dinner today (actually it was yesterday) and it was delicious.**

**...**

**NOW OFF TO THANKING PEOPLE:**

**PopcornChicken66**** – THANK YOU! I was REALLY worrying about that. I wanted to have the perfect balance on detail and fast-paced fighting so knowing I got the detail part right is great. Thanks. I think I'll give you… A BUCKET OF KFC'S POPCORN CHICKEN! For some reason, I have this feeling you'll like it… XD**

**bluenian98**** – Thank you for reviewing twice! It meant a lot to me seeing your name up there in under chapter 2 and 5. Makes me want to hug you SO I TOTALLY WILL! *Gives bluenian98 a big meaningful hug***

**Sara Davey**** – Oh ho ho ho! JUST YOU WAIT! If you like the plot now, you're totally going to get mind f%#ed later. I have some horribly brilliant ideas lined up. *Laughs evilly***

**Those are my most recent reviewers… Thanks again!**

**Oh and please review! Reviews both warm my soul and motivate the writing of this story!**

**Thanks to everyone! Till next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death Scythe. Maka has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target. Maka has dormant weapon blood that only comes out when threatened.**

Chapter 8:

~ {Soul} ~

Soul was very concerned.

Soul was sitting in a hospital room by the hospital bed that currently held his Meister Maka Albarn. This was the first time in the past two days he'd been allowed to see her. Seeing her now just reminded him of how _horrible_ she had looked two days ago, when she had been rushed to the hospital a completely broken, bleeding, mess…

The memory just burned him. How dare someone hurt his Meister like that…

Actually, concerned wasn't the right word. It was more like a cross between stressed out and completely out of his mind. After the attack two days ago, Soul had been forced into a room filled with Maka's father, their friends, teachers, some doctors, and a few curious policemen. These various people had added a lot of stress when:

The police, demanded him to tell them what happened.

The doctors, demanded him to tell them what happened.

Black*Star, Kid, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty demanded him to tell them what happened.

Spirit threatened Soul, giving him a guilt trip on how Soul had let _his_ little girl get hurt.

Doctor Stein demanded Soul to tell him _how_ we killed the witch.

The Lord Death asking Soul if he needed anything, and when he was planning on coming back to school.

It was too much too soon. Right now, he couldn't deal with any of this. He had to put them all on hold because he didn't have the energy to deal with them right now because…

Maka still hadn't woken up,

And he had NO IDEA what to tell any of them. He had kept quiet, answering questions with vague answers, waiting until Maka woke up so they could figure out what exactly she wanted him to tell them. Her being a weapon was something he wasn't sure she wanted people to know about, so until she woke up, he was going to keep giving vague answers.

After all, he didn't want to do anything that would result in an angry Maka, giving him the dreaded Maka chop.

* * *

><p>~ {Kid} ~<p>

Kid was not very mentally sound at the moment.

In fact Kid had been devastated the entire 43 hours he had been in Maka's hospital. From moment he walked in until now he had been mentally falling apart.

'Why' you ask me?

The hospital was _completely_ asymmetrical!

Oh, there was Maka's injury too. He was concerned about that as well; however, the hospital itself had had top priority in his mind. When Kid walked in and saw that the amount of chairs on each side of the waiting room did not equal one another, _and_ the fact that there was an ODD number of them…

Let's just say it was not something the nurses ever wanted to see again.

He had begun by going still, staring at the room for an unmeasured amount of time. Then he began to hyperventilate, then he threw the chairs around the room while he screamed in frustration about how he could never fix this mess because there was _one_ too many chairs. As the innocent bystanders ran for cover, the nurses rallied together and managed to sedate him.

When Kid woke up there was one less chair in the waiting room.

A day and a half have passes since the "chair incident", every minute Kid spent in the hospital he spent it reorganizing _everything_ he managed to get his hands on.

About two hours ago, Kid decided to try to organize their paperwork by number… the number of how many times the patient had visited their hospital.

Kid's logic went along the lines of, "That way the ones prone to injury will be near the front of each cabinet and it'll be more efficient when it comes to getting their records out,"

The nurses did NOT agree with him.

Two hours after he tried to mess with the paperwork, Kid was attacked and dragged away by a hoard of angry looking nurses.

About an hour later Black*Star found Kid strapped to a gurney with a gag on his mouth. The sight made Black*Star laugh loudly for a good 10-15 minutes, and tease him for another 5, before Black*Star left the way he came.

Kid was stuck staring at the ceiling, slowing going mad, as he noticed all the asymmetrical bumps and holes that were littering it.

* * *

><p>~ {Liz} ~<p>

Liz was freaking out.

Not only was she in a smelly old hospital, filled with sick people…

But she couldn't find Kid OR Patty.

She had been looking for them for about an hour and a half now, and she still had absolutely no idea where they could be.

"Excuse me miss, have you seen Death the Kid?" she asked a nurse nearby.

"Death the who?"

"Um… a boy who's a little shorter than me, has yellow eyes, black hair with white stripes on the right side, was wearing a suit with a skull tie last time I saw him."

The nurses' eyes narrowed, "I'm sorry dear, I've never seen anyone by that description. Now please excuse me, I have a job to do." She whispered angrily before hurrying off.

"Weird, what was that about?"

* * *

><p>It took her another ten minutes before she ran into Black*Star who was grinning from ear to ear.<p>

"Hey Black*Star! Have you seen Kid or Patty?"

Black*Star began to chuckle, "I've seen Kid, apparently a Shinigami's weakness is a strait jacket…"

"STRAIT JACKET?" Liz shrieked, "Which room is he in?"

"I don't know why you'd want to go find him when you've got a God standing in front of you but…" He shrugged, "Room 287,"

"Thanks Black*Star. How about Patty, have you seen her?"

"Nope."

"Why is it never easy?" Liz cried before she took off running.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile:<p>

~ {Patty} ~

While her older sister was frantically looking for both her and her Meister, Patty had been minding her own business, quietly sitting in room 287 playing tea party with her bound Meister.

"Would you like sugar with that mister Kid?"

"Dammit Patty, for the last time GET ME OUT OF THIS THING!" Kid screamed through the gag in his mouth.

Patty nodded in understanding and reached for the imaginary sugar, "How much sugar would you like?"

* * *

><p><strong>Ahhh. I FINALLY got to updating.<strong>

**Sorry it took so long. College started up for me recently and it's been hectic trying to keep everything in my life from falling apart.**

**You know I've realized that I can do complicated calculus problems… but the second you try to make me do basic math my mind can't handle it.**

***sigh* Anyway, once again, I'm sorry it took so long. I'll try to update sooner next time.**

**I hope you enjoyed!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Setting: an AU where the Kishin does not exist and/or has not been freed (haven't decided that yet). The witches are trying to take over but are constantly being stopped by the students at the Death Weapons Meister Academy. Arachne has just been killed by Soul and Maka, her soul was fed to Soul and he's now a Death Scythe. Maka has a soul perception ability that can see through witches soul protect. This makes her a big target. Maka has dormant weapon blood that only comes out when threatened.**

Chapter 9:

~ {Maka} ~

Pain was the only thing Maka could feel. Pain surrounded by darkness…

A darkness that was lifting, which, in turn, was making the pain intensify.

Maka groaned as she attempted to open her eyes.

"Maka?"

Maka groaned again in response, she knew that voice all too well.

"MAKA! Oh, my baby girl! You're finally waking up for your Papa?" Spirit, Maka's red headed father, began to ask.

"Ugh, go away," Maka hissed, eyes still closed.

"DON'T WORRY MAKA, JUST BEING IN MY PRESENCE WILL HEAL YOU UP RIGHT AWAY!"

_Great! _She thought_ not only my father but Black*Star too?_

"My poor baby!" Spirit exclaimed before grabbing one of Maka's arms and hugging it tightly.

"Ow! Ow! Stop it! Let me go!"

"That isn't wise Spirit, grabbing her like that is only going to injure her further," a dull monotone voice _.

"Professor Stein?" Maka asked weakly as she managed to open her eyes. There was her professor sitting near the right edge of the bed, by her feet, wearing his typical stitched up lab coat. Her father was standing to her left, eyes gleaming with affection. Black*Star was hanging from the ceiling, Tsubaki was on the right side, giving Black*Star her 'please stop and get down' look, Soul was standing next to Tsubaki rolling his eyes at Black*Star.

At the foot of her bed there stood a mirror, Lord Death's image was completely silent.

"Where's Liz, Patty, and Kid?" Maka asked hesitantly, unsure whether or not anyone was listening.

"Liz is looking for Kid and Patty, they'll probably join us soon." Lord Death responded.

It was then Black*Star began to laugh like a madman, "AHAHAHAHAHA! YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN HIM, A GREAT GRIM REAPER IN A STRAIT JACKET, BOUND TO A BED AND GAGGED. TAKEN DOWN BY NURSES! HOW DID HE EVER DEFEAT THE GREAT BLACK*STAR? I-"

"Black*Star, I'm sorry but I need to ask Maka a few questions," Lord Death interrupted.

"Sure," Black*Star replied, jumping to the ground and moving to stand in between Soul and Tsubaki.

"Now Maka, what do remember from that incident with that witch?" Lord Death asked slowly.

It was silent for the few moments it took for Maka to gather her thoughts.

"Well, Blair took us to this fake store, she was under control of some cat witch named Panthera. Soul and I were knocked out, at some point she tied up Soul, when I woke up she challenged me to a fight." she paused face scrunching up in concentration, "Then it gets blury. I know she started attacking, she got my shoulder, my calve..." another pause, "Then, I think I hit a wall, or something, and... That's it."

"What?" Soul asked suprised, "You don't remember what happened after that?"

"No, did you save me or something?"

"No! You got up and then you kicked her ass!"

Everyone was silent.

"I don't remember that." Maka stated.

"You did it. I saw it!" Soul yelled.

"Then how did I kill her, Soul? There's no way I could have punched her to death or something!" Maka yelled back.

"YEAH! ONLY A GOD LIKE ME COULD DO SOMETHING THAT BADASS!"

"Black*Star," a chorus of exasperated voices exclaimed.

"You went all weapon on her and killed her."

Silence filled the room once more.

"Did my baby girl finally accept the weapon in her blood?" Spirit asked excited.

"No, I-" Maka said before she was cut off.

"I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT'S PRETTY IMPRESSIVE FOR A MORTAL!" Black*Star congratulated.

"But I-"

"Hmmm... It's rare for someone to possess both meister and weapon blood, so there haven't been many people like you Maka. I wonder what you'd look like disected..."

"Professor-"

"Wow Maka! That's so amazing!" Tsubaki praised.

"GUYS!" Maka screamed trying to get everyone to stop talking at once.

Suprised at her outburst, everyone fell silent.

Maka directed her attention to the mirror at the foot of her bed, "Lord Death, why can't I remember killing Panthera?"

"Well, my best guess would be that your weapon blood has been dormant all this time, locked up in your subconscious. When your life was threatened your survival instincts kicked in and let your subconscious take over. Your subconscious used your weapon abilities to kill the threat and save your life. Ask for why you can't remember, it's probably because you were being controlled by your subconscious. Only events that happen while one is conscious have the capability of becoming an actual memory."

"So, what do you think we should do about this?"

"Hmm..." Lord Death began to think.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so this chapter I feel... Eh, <em>iffy<em> on. I did take psychology, but I might not have gotten the memory facts correct. It's been a while.**

**If you found something wrong with this chapter (stuff said (facts incorrect), characters out of character (theories/hypotheses incorrect), grammar, pacing... etc) please tell me, I'll try my best to fix it.**

**I've been hanging on to this chapter for about a month. It's actually supposed to have, like, an entire 1,000 more words. However, When I first wrote this chapter I wrote it on paper, lost the second page and now I can't remember it. :(**

**Positive bit o' news is that tomorrow I'm going back to the place that inspired me to write this chapter in the first place. I'm hoping that deja vu will occur and I'll be able to "finish" it.**


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